Jewels from Jane,June 19

"Archbishop Kenrick had a fatherly interest in the Sisters of St. Joseph and was always concerned about their welfare. He had encouraged sending sisters from Carondelet to other dioceses, but as time passed he favored stabilizing and strengthening the congregation by means of an approved central government. He felt that the ties of friendship and loyalty among the various houses needed the seal of authority. In 1856 Father August S. Paris, C.M., the spiritual father of the community at Carondelet, made a trip to Europe and found that the superiors in France favored an independent American government. Mother Celestine planned a general visitation of all the American missions in order to secure the cooperation of the sisters and bishops involved. However, before these plans could be carried out, she died, on June 7, 1857.

"At the election of a new superior, Mother Seraphine Coughlin, superior in St. Paul, was chosen; but on the plea of poor health and inability, she asked to be relieved. Her request was seconded by the petition of Monsignor Augustine Ravoux, administrator of the diocese of St. Paul. Upon the authority invested in him as ecclesiastical superior, Archbishop Kenrick then appointed Mother St. John Facemaz in her stead. [This took place on June 19, 1857, 10 days after the interment of Mother Celestine.] The new superior possessed shrewd business instinct together with a talent for organization. Since her arrival in 1854 from Annecy, France, she had been closely associated with Mother Celestine, and at the time of her appointment was a member of the council at the motherhouse and had been actively engaged in the plans for the adoption of a general government."

from Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet by Sister Dolorita Marie Dougherty